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Anti-Scroogenomics: A Keynesian Celebration of Christmas

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  • Gabriel Mathy

Abstract

Scroogenomics (Waldfogel 2009) alleges that Christmas gift-giving is inefficient, due to the recipient of the gift being better able to spend money on themselves than someone else could, creating a deadweight loss. However, this ignores the seasonal nature of Christmas, which falls in a slack time in the depths of winter. The additional spending on presents has a stimulative effect, lifting incomes when additional income is valuable. The seasonal boost of Christmas is often lost in seasonal adjustment, but it is significant. I also show how declining family size also reduces gift-giving for Christmas, potentially biasing estimates of the income-elasticity of Christmas as in Waldfogel (2023).

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel Mathy, 2024. "Anti-Scroogenomics: A Keynesian Celebration of Christmas," Working Papers 2024-01, American University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:amu:wpaper:2024-01
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Keynesian economics; Spending Multiplier; Christmas;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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